When things don't really go as planned

Lovino was walking the streets wearing a woolen scarf around his neck and hiding his slightly numb and reddened hands in the large pockets of his winter jacket, cursing himself for not having put on gloves and another pair of socks, since his feet were also starting to turn into two ice blocks.

But it was truly unusually cold on that 14th of February. Really damn cold, as if they were in the middle of winter and not about to face the arrival of spring.

And still, even though Lovino's hands and feet were freezing so much that they were burning, he was feeling a scorching hot anticipation inside, with flames that were dancing wildly and yet pleasantly warming him up like a cozy fireplace. It was the joy of being able to see his Spanish boyfriend Antonio soon, to whose house he was currently heading. Or rather, their house, given that they were living together.

A joy that was barely written on his face, though, since the Italian wasn't the kind of person to openly show his deepest emotions around. But Antonio was still able to read him like an open book, to discover the love and affection Lovino was hiding under and between his roughness and insults, wearing an eternal frown on his face.

Antonio was the only one who could do that. The only one apart from Lovino’s brother Feliciano.

His two most important people in the world.

But the Italian would never dare to say it out loud, of course. Instead, he just frowned again and turned beet-red. Or in his case: tomato-red.

He tugged absent-mindedly on his scarf with his index finger as he walked, revealing his mouth and observing the little clouds leaving it at every exhalation, before he covered it up once again after a while, thinking of Antonio's beautiful green eyes he would be able to see again very soon… his eyes and his smile that was always genuine when directed at him…

They hadn't had barely any chance to see each other for a few days because of work, but had agreed to take some days of vacation at the same time in order to celebrate Valentine's Day and go on several dates after that, like they did every year.

Yes, only for a mere few days, not even a week, which was nothing but a fleeting moment, since the two of them did live together and were still sleeping in the same bed, but since they had very different work shifts recently, one of them had already been asleep when the other one came home (even though Antonio had always been trying to stay awake and wait for his beloved).

And the Italian felt as if something was missing in his life without their interactions. As if these few days of not hearing Antonio's chatter nor laughter had dug a deep hole of emptiness in his chest, even though Lovino was usually constantly complaining just how annoying that Spanish bastard was.

The two of them had been together for so long, yet Lovino still couldn't help feeling a slight nervousness whenever he was around his partner. Still hesitating to believe that there was truly someone in that world who loved him exactly the way he was. And still fearing that all of it would turn out to be a mere dream one day, and he would wake up from a long coma and into his suffocating loneliness again.

Though he didn't suspect that Antonio knew even that deeply hidden detail about him and was always trying to shower him with love whenever he could in order to prove to him that he was, indeed, real.

As if to dissipate that unpleasant thought, Lovino placed his hand on the box he was carrying in the bag hanging from his shoulder together with some of his other belongings he was taking home after having spent the last night at his brother’s house, visiting him. Inside the box was a chocolate… no, not a heart, a tomato!

Now, Lovino considered himself a fairly good cook and was proud of his skills, however, he had to admit that he didn't have too much experience making sweets and wasn’t sure whether his creation that was, of course, not as amazing as the chocolate Feliciano had made for his own boyfriend, turned out alright. But he still hoped that his beloved bastard would like it, since he had put all his feelings into that round piece of chocolate.